As Shore resorts go:
The Wildwoods' claim to fame rests with the honkey tonk boardwalks and oodles of amusements, but the island has a quiet side as well.
 Hereford Inlet Lighthouse and Gardens Swiss Gothic national historic landmark:
The lighthouse looks more like someone's cozy seashore home than the guard of a treacherous coast. In addition to touring the renovated lighthouse interior, visitors can persue the lush array of gardens, stocked with coastal flora and fauna. 111 N. Central Ave., North Wildwood.
For more information: (609) 522-4520
Wildwood Crest Historical Society:
The society features historical artifacts and memorabilia about the history of Wildwood Crest. The museum traces the borough from the Revolutionary War era to World War II when German U-boats patrolled off the coast. 5800 Ocean Ave., Wildwood Crest.
For more information: (609) 729-4515
George F. Boyer Historical Museum:
The museum traces the history of Wildwood from the time it was a forest of bayberry trees to its evolution as a major resort in New Jersey. 3907 Pacific Ave., Wildwood
For more information: (609) 523-0277
 Doo Wop Preservation League:
The league spearheads the island's renaissance as the cultural center of 1950s and 1960s era architecture, dubbed doo wop. The league office also houses a museum featuring classic neon signs from that era, as well as radios and other memorabilia. Also included are some of the presentations made by architecture students on how to marry doo wop with revitalization. 3201 Pacific Ave., Wildwood.
For more information: (609) 523-2400

For too many years, the "wild" in Wildwood gave rise
to a reputation as a place to party hard, where teenagers
went on drunken binges to celebrate their release from high
school.

Like most reputations, this one came with more than a
few kernels of truth, enough to send too much of the
traditional family trade to Sea Isle City, Ocean City and
other coastal resorts.

With a decline in tourism, motel owners passed on
upgrading their properties. Others removed the ostentatious
signage and structures that defined the island's buildings
in the heyday of the 1950s and 1960s.

Few developers invested in the three coastal communities
sharing the island: North Wildwood, Wildwood and Wildwood
Crest. (West Wildwood is not a factor in the tourist
trade.)

Of late, however, the good seems to outweigh the bad:

A campaign against drunkenness has paid off in
turning opinions around.

A new convention center opens next year
overlooking the Wildwood beach.

Upscale restaurants have moved into Wildwood and
North Wildwood, and an ambitious entertainment district has
gone beyond the wishful-thinking phase.

The first efforts to turn fortunes around came with the
formation of the Greater Wildwood Improvement and Tourism
Development Authority in 1993.

Created by the three beachfront towns, the authority
markets the island as a total vacation destination. It is
funded by a 2 percent tax on rooms, meals and admissions to
most attractions.

"The Wildwoods now look at themselves as one destination,"
said John Siciliano, executive director of the authority.

Then came the college students from three prestigious
architecture schools who saw in the Wildwoods a treasure
trove of Americana, and the key to a renaissance.

Since the mid-1990s, students and faculty from the
University of Pennsylvania, Yale and Kent State have
conducted exhaustive research into the unusual architecture
of the motels throughout the island.

The designs, characterized by plastic palm trees, curved
railings, outlandish signage and a preponderance of neon,
were christened "doo-wop," a variation on the street corner
harmony rock 'n' roll prevalent when these places were
built.

The students convinced Wildwoods officials the
collection of architectural gems could do for their island
what the Victorian bed and breakfasts did for Cape May.

"In the last ten years, we've cultivated our uniqueness.
We're pretty much one of a kind," said Jack Morey,
executive vice president and chief operating officer for
the Morey Organization, one of the few companies that
continued to invest through the bad times.

Morey also presides over the Doo Wop Preservation League,
a combination museum and think tank on everything doo-wop
situated in the heart of Wildwood's Pacific Avenue
downtown.

The architecture students developed a slew of
recommendations on how to capitalize on the doo-wop
fascination, a laundry list of ideas which revolved around
fun, neon and an attitude of the gaudier, the better.

"Neon was the hallmark here 30 to 40 years ago. Then
people quit using it. Now they're back to spending money on
it," said Mayor Duane Sloan.

A number of motels have retrofitted or accentuated the
look.

Last year, Morey built the Starlux Motel in the doo-wop
style.

Maureen and Steve Horn incorporated neon when they opened
Maureen, an upscale bistro a block off the Wildwood
boardwalk. A large neon martini glass graces the side of
the building.

Wildwood has used the doo-wop theme as a a a leverage tool
in granting variances.

Wawa will go doo-wop with its new superstore on Rio
Grande Avenue. The same holds true for a new Subway and a
Pizza Hut.

"These are minor changes, but they all add up," Sloan
said.

What they add up to is new development after years of
stagnation.

Crest Savings Bank moved its headquarters to Pacific
Avenue. The long-dormant Wildwood Yacht Basin underwent a
major overhaul into Schooner Island Marina. Claude's, a
landmark French cafe, saw North Wildwood as more promising
than remaining in Stone Harbor.

The Horns, husband and wife restaurateurs known for their
posh eateries in Philadelphia, Cape May and Longboat Key,
Fla., defied odds when they selected Wildwood last year.

"For a whole year before, people kept asking us, `why
Wildwood?'" Maureen said. "People said we were crazy."

Those same people couldn't wait for Maureen to reopen
this summer. More than half of its customers last year came
from the tony vacation towns of Avalon and Stone Harbor.

Real estate sales are on the rise throughout the island,
as are construction permits.

North Wildwood went from 11 building permits in 1998 to
58 the following year and 70 last year. Wildwood Crest
jumped from seven to 13 to 35 permits. Wildwood issued 13
building permits last year, compared to just one in both
1998 and 1999.

Ottens Harbor, a quaint man-made finger of water in the
Wildwood back bays, is poised for waterfront residential
development as part of the second-home market.

"It took a decade to create the foundation for this,"
Morey said. "Now we're seeing things coming out of the
ground."

Word has spread beyond South Jersey.

American Airlines profiled the city in its in-flight
magazine this year. And the magazine Marie Claire flew in
models from Italy for a photo shoot as part of a story on
architecture for a fall issue.

Wildwood's more immediate future rests with the convention
center and the entertainment district.

The center, while not expected to convert the island into
a year-round destination, will expand the season.

Many motel owners plan renovations and even additions in
anticipation of increased business, said John Pantalone,
mayor of Wildwood Crest.

The entertainment district consists of four elements
within the center of Wildwood.

A California-style beach park.

The city is in in preliminary discussions with the
Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to help fund $3.4
million for bike and inline skate paths, volleyball courts,
softball fields and an ecosystem to make it environmentally
friendly.

The park needs approval from the state Department of
Environmental Protection, but Sloan doesn't see hurdles.

Pacific Avenue redevelopment.

A $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development is earmarked to convert Pacific
Avenue to two-way vehicle traffic for the first time since
1987. The conversion is considered the launch of a hoped-
for rebirth of the street.

If a second $1 million from HUD falls through, the city
has other funding options to complete the change, said Kim
Schalek, assistant vice president of Pathways, the Mount
Laurel consulting firm working with the resort to secure
grants.

In addition to the influx of cars, the street will play
off the doo-wop theme with signs, streetscaping, banners
and lighting, and possibly an increase in new businesses to
create something similar to Philadelphia's South Street.

A physical and spiritual link between the boardwalk
and Pacific Avenue along Cedar Avenue.

The connector will feature colored concrete, neon
lighting, and an eclectic mix of shops - what Sloan
describes as a smaller version of Universal Studios
CityWalk. A bill in Trenton would appropriate $2 million
for the construction of the connector.

Also planned: a parking garage, a 200-room hotel and a
six- to 10-screen multiplex theater. The city is willing to
work with developers to offer incentives, such as tax
abatements and free land, Sloan said.

Rio Grande Avenue entranceway, from New Jersey to
Ocean avenues.

The resort will receive $1.3 million in federal funds,
and the state will toss in another $400,000 for streetscape
improvements, themed signage and more, also tapping doo-
wop. "It will be bright and in neon, with a Disneyesque
feel to it," Schalek said.